Tonight is the Brays Island Ride 'N Dine. I'm more "dine" than "ride" these days, but I'd like to change that. Just this morning I spoke to Jim at the Equestrian Center about starting my riding lessons again. I haven't been on a horse since the end of January. Think the ladies at Brays are giving up on me?!
My husband will ride Comet, the Wonder Horse. Isn't he a cutie? (I meant my husband, of course.) :o)
Comet is a Marsh Tacky, a type of indigenous horse that ran wild on plantations down here in South Carolina for centuries. Marsh Tackies can actually trace their bloodlines back to Spain and have their origins in the 16th century when Spanish colonists sailed to new lands with ships full of animals and supplies, which they would unload on islands to be used for provender for the next trip. They had a different logistical long-term planning approach from the English settlers who preferred to take with them what they needed for that trip.
The Marsh Tacky horse has been an endangered species, there are less than 200 left in this country. You can read all about them here: http://www.marshtacky.org/
Qualities or traits of a marsh tacky? According to the website, Marsh Tacky horses are "excellent on trails, sure-footed and swamp-savvy " Alligators don't spook them. The heat doesn't bother them. They know how to forage on grasses down here.
My husband selected his horse from a group of wild horses that used to run on a plantation down here in the Lowcountry. When he was a little boy, he used to climb up a fence and then onto the back of his childhood horse and together they would ride bareback down the deserted beaches and into the rivers, where his horse would roll over onto her side, while my husband, as a boy, would scamper off her back to sit on her other side so that she could scissor-kick and propel them both to the other side. Marsh Tacky horses can swim!
Hopefully, that won't be necessary tonight.
BTW, have I told you that in the last 3 times that my husband has ridden Comet, he has bucked? What do you think Comet is trying to tell my husband? Please offer your comments in the section below...
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